Darkness Nevermore
by LunaTheDragonSlayer
Summary: They thought that he was gone; erased from history and forgotten. But they were wrong. He was very much alive. He wanted vengeance, he wanted them to suffer for what they had done to him, for casting him away and locking him up. He wanted them to feel the pain he had felt... He wanted revenge. Rated T for mild violence. Couples will vary; there might not be any at all.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Something Not Right**

Shadow paced aimlessly around him "room," if that's what those idiotic humans at G.U.N. called his small square cubical. Whatever. It had a bed, and that's all Shadow needed. He didn't spend much time their anyway.

That wasn't the reason for his...anxiety. Sleep was seeming to sound less and less like a necessity and more and more like a nauseous. The fact of the matter being that for once, Shadow couldn't solve this problem with a gun or a well-placed punch.

Nightmares are like that he supposed.

But these...

Shadow shuddered, and instantly hated himself for it. This was stupid. He was the ultimate life-form. He's faced death and even worse, life, and has managed to keep himself alive. He's defeated countless enemies and has even managed to keep away the incessant annoyances of Sonic and his gang of merry do-gooders.

At yet the very thought of his nightmares sent chills down his spine. It was...an odd thing. He couldn't remember most of them, (like several other aspects of his life). The only thing he remember was some cruel dark laugh, and a creeping cold that came from inside out. He would fall to his knees, and then suddenly a searing hot pain erupted through him. Only one sentence was ever spoken in his reoccurring dream, and it was spoken by his attacker.

"A pity. My revenge would be even sweeter if you remembered."

Under any other normal circumstances, Shadow would have just let this go. Assumed it was another haunted event caused by his amnesia. But that searing hot pain on his back...

In normal dreams, you don't wake up with scars.

But Shadow did.

The door to his room opened, and a rather hot-headed woman entered his room. Her ebony wings panned out dramatically, and her outfit was, as always, showy at best. Her white ears flicked around, bored, and one of her hands rested on her hip. She looked annoyed.

"Shadow, G.U.N. is calling the both of us out on another mission," she said. "Apparently some weird monsters have been spotted down town, and Blue's asked for assistance. AKA you."

"All right," Shadow said, honestly for once in his life relieved that he would be out killing something with Sonic. Any other time Shadow would have scowled, but today he would do anything to get his mind on something other than that chilling voice.

Rouge raised an eyebrow, obviously intrigued that Shadow wasn't expressing his disdain for Sonic, but she didn't press him, which in itself was unusual enough.

"Meet you there?" she asked, climbing out of his window and stretching her wings out to catch the wind. Shadow nodded, and Rouge kicked off, letting the currents carry her above the treetops to get to town.

Shadow pulled out his red Chaos Emerald, and teleported there instead.

* * *

Shadow appeared on top of a building, looking down on the streets below and trying to get a good look at these monsters that Rouge had spoken of.

"That was fast," she said landing beside him. Speak of the devil.

"There," she pointed, and Shadow saw Sonic Spin Dash into a rather grotesque looking purplish monster. It yelped, and then disappeared, melting into a pool of blackish sludge. Shadow watched as Sonic stuck out his tongue in disgust, trying to wipe the gunk off of his fur.

Shadow leaped down off of the building, landing beside Sonic. Rouge hovered down beside him.

"Well, look who finally decided to crash the party!" Sonic said smiling mischievously. "A little late, aren't we Shadow?"

"She's the one that took her sweet time delivering the message," he said pointing at Rouge. She glared at him, and opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly three more of those monsters sprang out of an alleyway, roaring as people ran and screamed in all directions.

"What ARE these things?" Rouge asked, taking a step back.

"We don't know," said Tails as he flew down to them. He held some sort of scanner in his hands, and he kept pointing it at the monsters. "My scanner can't pick up any reading on them, or any life forms in them at all! It's like they don't even exist!"

A red echidna smashed his fists into one, spinning it around and sending it sailing into the other two, causing them both to screech and tumble over each other. "They're real all right, and everywhere!"

"How long has this been going on?" Shadow said, dashing into one that came charging toward him.

"All morning," said Tails panting. "They...they just keep coming!"

No sooner had the words left Tails's mouth, at least a dozen more appeared out of various alleyways and shadows. There were bird-like ones, who took to the skies, throwing debris on anything and everything that moved, the wolf-like ones who seemed to be the easiest to kill, and larger, giant-like ones who picked up whole cars and chunks of the street before sending them sailing toward them. People screamed and ran in every direction, but other than getting obvious glee in reeking havoc, these monsters didn't seem to be after any people.

The monsters surrounded them, and no more words were exchanged between the fellow heroes as their attention was taken to the monsters. Many other heroes showed up to help, including Amy, the Chaotix Gang, Omega, and even G.U.N. enforcers, but for every one monster they killed two more seemed to take their place.

Shadow ducked as a larger one threw a car over his head, and he launched himself toward it, slashing out with Chaos Spear. The monster roared, swatting at Shadow like one would a bug, and landed a blow. Shadow grunted, and was sent sailing into building, crashing through the window. He moaned, picking himself off of the ground.

Ok, enough was enough.

The remaining windows of the building shattered as Shadow launched himself into the fury. "All of you, get down!" he shouted over his shoulder.

They looked at him in confusion, but when Shadow started to glow a crimson red, their eyes widened and they ducked behind debris and rocks, anything that would have shielded them.

Shadow hovered in the air, letting the power of his Chaos Emerald fill him and consume him. He held it in for as long as he could, and prepared to release it.

Suddenly, a fiery pain like the kind in his nightmares pounded in Shadow's skull. He bit his lip, and cried out, clutching his head and sinking to the ground.

"Shadow!" he heard them call out. Rouge took a step toward him, and he shot her a glare.

"Stay back!" he shouted in a voice that was angry and cold.

Abruptly, the energy inside of him crashed forward; an explosion of strength and power. He roared, the energy and fiery hot pain mixing together in some terrible energy that seemed to eat away inside of him. The monsters cried out, evaporating completely into dust at the first contact, but the wave coming from Shadow didn't stop.

"Shadow!" he heard Amy call from behind some rocks. "The monsters are all gone! Stop it!"

He squeezed his eyes shut, but then they opened in horror.

"I can't stop it!" he shouted. "Something's wrong!"

The explosion continued, and Shadow heard the heroes cry out as his wave got stronger. He shouted, sucking all of the power inside of himself in one concussive whir, and after one final explosion, it stopped.

The heroes were silent for the longest time, but then they cheered at their friend. "Way to go Shadow!"

Sonic approached the black and red hedgehog to congratulate him, but suddenly Shadow sank to his knees, collapsing onto the ground motionless.

"Shadow!" he cried out, and everyone rushed to his side.

Shadow moaned weakly, his eyes barely open. Then they closed, and Shadow slumped down completely.

Sonic and Rouge exchanged a look of horror.

Something was definitely wrong.

For just a second, Shadow's eyes had gone from their usual red, to a cold golden color.


	2. Chapter 2

"Shadow! Come on, wake up already!"

Shadow groaned and blearily opened his eyes to see Sonic, Rouge, Amy, and Tails all standing over him.

"How are you feeling?" Tails asked, his round eyes wide with concern.

Shadow scowled, hating the fact that he was actually looking weak in front of them. He sat up in a blur of motion, and his stomach lurched and nausea filled him. He moaned, and Sonic leaped forwad, helping to support Shadow. Shadow shrugged him off, and shakily rose to his feet.

"What...what happened Shadow?" Amy asked tentaviley, and he turned away from their gazes.

"Nothing. I've got it under control."

Rouge's eyes narrowed. "And there he goes again, shutting us out, even now when he actually NEEDS us."

"I don't need anybody," Shadow mumbled, and of course, stumbled at that very moment. The others sprang forward, ready to help him, but he growled and shot them a glare. They took a step back. "I can handle this...whatever it is, myself."

Before they could object, Shadow launched himself forward, pushing his body forward and away from them. When he was sure that they were out of sight, he darted into an alley and slumped down against the wall, breathing heavily.

He leaned his head back against the wall, mentally yelling at himself for his own weakness.

What the heck had happened back there? Those monstesr...the ground ones were like wolves, their eyes hungry and yet empty. The bird like ones were like odd hawks with elongated tails and sharp beaks. And the giant ones, they looked like looming monsters with horns and sharp teeth.

Where did they come from? And why, _why _did they seem so horribly familiar?

Shadow shook his head, sighing. At least he had gotten away from the others before he had collapsed. God, if that idiotic hedgehog saw him like this...

Shadow shuddered. He would never hear the end of it.

He stood, pushing himself off of the wall. He didn't dare teleport home, frankly he wasn't sure if he had the energy to make it all the way and he would hate to randomly appear in the middle of mid-afternoon traffic. He decided instead to walk, and he started off toward "home." He walked past people in the crowded walkways and alleys, and many didn't even spare him a second glance. Others just looked at him in fear and hurried on. He snickered. People tended to avoid him while they gravitated toward Sonic like he was some super-charged magnet. Not that Shadow was complaining, but still.

Finally, Shadow seemed to reach a break in the crowd, and he passed by a building selling various items from the window. He glanced by only briefly, and then continued on. Suddenly, a cold shiver ran down his spine, and he glanced back.

His reflection smiled wickedly back at him, and a horrible dark laugh filled his ears. Shadow took a step back, watching as his reflection seemed to peel itself off of the glass, and reached one clawed hand out toward him.

_Shadow..._

Shadow shouted out, and smashed his fist forward. His fist sailed down into the glass, and it shattered into tiny glittering pieces. Instantely, sirens started going off around him, and a rather large-looking man came out of the store, shouting profanities at Shadow. Shadow however barely even noticed him, he was still staring at the broken pieces. His breathing was quick and rather shallow. He took another step backward, and then tore off down the street.

What was happening to him?

* * *

"Guys, something's not right with Shadow," Amy said as she and her friends sat down at a small caffe.

Sonic snorted, looking over the menu. "I've been telling you that for years."

Rouge smacked him on the back of his head, and he winced. "Knock it off Sonic, you know what she means."

"I'm with Amy," Tails said after taking a sip of his drink. "That explosion wasn't normal for Shadow, and I've never seen him act like that. And those monsters...I've been doing a little research."

"Well? What'd you find?" Sonic asked.

"These monsters look an awful lot like paintings done on some of the tapestries hung in Soleanna. It just might be something we should look into."

"Ooo, Soleanna?!" Amy squealed. "I've heard that city is SO romantic! Sonic, let's go!"

"On second thought, I think Shadow's fine, maybe he just needs some space and-" Sonic started, but Amy grabbed his arm and yanked him out of his chair.

"Come on come on come on!" she said, dragging him down the street.

"Tails! Help!" Sonic shouted, but Tails just shook his head chuckling.

"No way, Amy's too strong when she's in one of her moods," Tails answered.

"You guys are obnoxiously peppy, you know that?" Rouge sighed, rolling her eyes.

Tails smiled. "I'll go get the others. If we're going to Soleanna, we might as well bring anyone and everyone who wants to come and help."

Rouge nodded. "If I can find Shadow, I'll try to convince him to come along...I'm worried about him Tails, something's not right. He's been acting...odd lately. He's jumpier than usual, and he doesn't seem to be getting much sleep."

Tails nodded. "Don't worry Rouge, we'll figure this out."

_I hope you're right Tails,_ Rouge thought as the two of them flew off toward their destinations. _I hope you're right._


End file.
